Texas Senate candidate James Talarico backs ban on ‘transgender’ surgery for minors, walks back ‘6 sexes’ claim

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico said Sept. 9 that he would “absolutely” vote for a national ban on “transgender” surgery for minors and walked back his previous statement that there are six biological sexes, marking a shift from positions that have drawn scrutiny as the closely watched Texas Senate race enters its final two months.

“I’ve missed the mark on some of my past statements. I will be the first to admit it,” Talarico told Fox News at a food drive event he organized in Dallas, Texas, responding to a question about whether he still stood by his 2021 remark that there are six sexes.

“What I meant is that there are two sexes, and then there’s a small percentage of people with genetic abnormalities. Obviously didn’t say it correctly,” he added. “There are not six sexes. There are two.”

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Talarico made the original remark during a 2021 Texas House Public Education Committee hearing on legislation governing “transgender” participation in school sports, telling lawmakers that “modern science” recognized more than two sexes.

The latest remarks come less than two months before the Nov. 3 election, in which Talarico, a Texas state representative, is challenging Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton for the U.S. Senate seat. 

A recent Overton Insights survey found Talarico and Paxton tied at 50%, while an August University of Texas survey placed Talarico three points ahead, as Zeale News previously reported. An Emerson College poll from the same month gave Paxton a 1-point advantage.

Republican groups supporting Paxton have increasingly focused their advertising on Talarico’s record and past comments on “transgenderism.” One ad depicted Talarico as a doctor performing “transgender” surgery on a young girl, while another highlighted his previous declaration that God is “nonbinary.”

During the Fox interview, Talarico said he has consistently opposed “gender transition” surgery for minors, while defending his 2023 vote against a Texas law that restricted such procedures.

He said he opposed Texas’ SB 14 because he considered parts of the legislation “overly broad.” 

“As a lawmaker, my job is to try to sift through everything the bill does,” Talarico told Fox. “And sometimes there's stuff in it that's really harmful, and I have no choice but to oppose the bill as a whole.”

Asked whether he would vote for a federal ban on “gender transition” surgery for minors if elected to the Senate, Talarico responded, “Absolutely.”

Talarico also told Fox he would oppose “trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it endangers safety or fairness,” reversing positions he took in the Texas House while opposing Republican-backed restrictions on “transgender” participation in school athletics. 

During a 2021 House floor debate on such legislation, Talarico argued that “some things are more important than perfectly fair competition in sports.”

Talarico, who has made his Christian faith a prominent theme of his campaign and touted his credentials as a Presbyterian seminary graduate, also drew criticism for remarks he made during the 2021 debate about the nature of God.

“God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is nonbinary,” Talarico said at the time.

Speaking to Fox, he walked back that characterization, saying he had deliberately used provocative language to discuss a theological truth.

“What I was trying to say is that you can't use human categories to define God, and that’s not controversial theologically,” Talarico said. “In fact, the late Charlie Kirk, the late Pope Benedict all said the same thing.”

Talarico accused Paxton and his allies of taking his statements out of context to divert attention from controversies surrounding the attorney general.

“Ken Paxton is the most corrupt politician in Texas, and he’s gonna try to clip some of my comments, including comments where I was being a little provocative in order to try to distract from that career,” Talarico said.

Paxton was impeached by the Republican-controlled Texas House in 2023 on allegations including bribery and abuse of office. He was later acquitted by the state Senate and returned to office.

CatholicVote President and CEO Kelsey Reinhardt said Talarico’s latest statements should be weighed against his legislative record.

“James Talarico has apparently discovered biological reality. How fortunate that the revelation arrived just weeks before Election Day in Texas,” Reinhardt told Zeale News.

“When a politician abandons a bad position, the new position should be welcomed, but we are under no obligation to become amnesiacs,” she added. “Talarico did not acquire his political record yesterday.”

Reinhardt said the timing of Talarico’s “change of heart” should be viewed in the context of broader public opinion on such policies, which has “collapsed” in recent years.

A January 2025 New York Times/Ipsos poll of 2,128 adults found 79% of Americans opposed men competing in women’s sports, including 67% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning respondents. The survey also found 71% of respondents said no one under 18 should have access to puberty-blocking drugs or hormone therapy.

“This is no longer an obscure conservative objection that progressive politicians can dismiss as ignorance or bigotry,” Reinhardt said. “The public has watched the consequences of these policies, and the political price has become obvious.”

Reinhardt said politicians who previously supported such policies should be pressed to explain precisely which positions they have changed and what legislation they would now support, instead of being permitted “simply to walk away” by declaring “that they ‘missed the mark.’” 

“They need to experience consequences for the illogical and harmful positions they previously held, as well as be subjected to tough questions about what they now believe,” Reinhardt said. “Should biological males ever compete in female athletics or not? Does Talarico support banning puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors or merely surgery? Which votes from his legislative record does he now believe were wrong? What legislation would he actually support in the Senate?”

“The larger lesson goes well beyond James Talarico,” she concluded. “Since we have crossed a political tipping point on transgender ideology, voters should distinguish conversion from repositioning, because words are cheap, especially in September of an election year.”